


New York Is For Memories

by imgilmoregirl



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Family, Family Feels, One Shot, Papafire feels, Post-Season/Series 06 Finale, Rumbelle feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-08
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-03-02 06:59:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13312884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imgilmoregirl/pseuds/imgilmoregirl
Summary: Rumplestiltskin takes his family to Neal's old apartment and he can't help but to reflect over his life.





	New York Is For Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Once Upon A Time or any of the characters and storylines in the show. This is just a fanwork made for fun.
> 
> Forgive my anxiety crisis. I needed to write this. But yeah, this is the first one-shot of 2018 and I totally wrote it out of a bad moment, but thought I should share it with you guys, so I hope it's enjoyable.

It was still difficult for him to believe that moment was real. Today is a day in which he is full of memories and thoughts and being in this place makes everything even more bittersweet. He walked around the tiny apartment, opened drawers and doors, trying to find the smallest things that belonged to his son and could bring up some good remembrances. But of course, after years of his death, most of Baelfire's belongings are no longer here.

There is a lot of things Robin Hood brought during the short time he lived there with his family. He finds books, old clothes and toys and even a small bed they set on the living room for Gideon, which one day must have belonged to Roland, however there is very little from Baelfire to be find. Rumplestiltskin keeps someone coming every couple of weeks to clean, so he can be travelling around the world with his wife and child, but keep this place alive.

He hadn't come back there for years and it was only when Belle started to babbled repeatedly about New York, when they were in a place called Hawaii, that he decided he wanted to show it to her. And as different as this apartment is from the gorgeous hotel rooms they had been staying at along the last two years, she never looked so marvelled by something as she did the moment they entered Bae's place. Belle had taken her own walk around, Gideon's hand tucked on hers as she told him about his older brother and great hero he had been.

Their boy had heard Baelfire's story many, many times, but as a typical three-year-old he didn't mind hearing it again and was excited all the same as if it was the first time. He was very alike Belle and sometimes when Rumple was playing with him and he giggled happily or said something silly in his childish voice, he almost felt tears coming to his eyes, because an immense joy filled his chest to know this time, he was having the change of raising his son properly and innocent, bubbly Gideon would never turn into the tortured young man he met a while ago. He would be happy and loved and that would make him good, just like his mother.

Rumplestiltskin took a last look at him, sleeping peacefully in his small bed and pressed a kiss to his forehead before walking back to the bedroom he was sharing with his wife. He caught her staring down the windows, her petite frame dressed in a short silky nightgown. It was a breath-taking vision, which he would never get used to. Sometimes, the reality still hit him hard. Years could have passed, but she was still that girl he dealt for, the same one he locked in his dungeon, made his maid, and somehow, she had still managed to fall in love with in. However, what surprised him more, was how she forgave him and came back willing to him even after everything he did to her.

Truth be told, he never expected someone could love him the way Belle did. After being rejected by so many people, he didn't think himself worth of anything, and yet, there she was.

He took silent steps to his wife, enlaced her waist with both his arms and pressed an open-mouthed kiss to her neck, which elicited a low moan from her. Belle leaned against him, shoving all her hair to one side, so she could give him full access to her skin. He had never expected someone to have those reactions at his touch. Milah loathed him, made him feel the useless man alive. Cora wanted to have fun, as long as it was forbidden and dangerous she wanted it, but her eyes never showed love and she was always on command, which made him feel sometimes like he was a tool for her. Now he was pretty sure he was.

But with Belle, oh, with Belle everything was different. He could remember very well the first time they shared a bed. So innocent, so willing. It a moment was so full of passion that it could erase all of their mistakes, all the anxiety and how nervous both were. With her it was always a matter of love. He teased her about not being a virgin for really long on their wedding night and she dared laughing at this, saying it was pointless, because she was his all along, from the moment they made their deal, to the moment they consummated their relationship. Rumple agreed with her. But then, he thought he lost her.

He did all the wrong things, he ruined their marriage so badly in such a short amount of time. For him, he deserved to never see her again, to never be loved or cared for. But she came back. When darkness was all he had left, she walked through the door of his shop, bringing light into his life again. And in that night, as they were wrapped into each other's arms, feeling the warmth of the pleasure rip through their bodies, they created a whole new life, a child both of them would adore. He could remember the peace in Belle's eyes as they laid side by side afterwards, when she thought nothing else could ever torn them apart again. _Oh, how wrong she was!_

But how beautifully insistent in her love for him, Belle was either. She adored his soul, she accepted his flaws and he worked on his mistakes. It took time for them to heal, therefore it made them stronger than before. Nothing could come between them now and it was quite a relief to know they were very far away from Storybrooke, where problems were always being throw over them, no matter what they did or where they choose to hide. Outside that town line, their family had the chance to have happiness, to start again.

So, when she turned around in his arms and her lips met his, Rumplestiltskin is no longer afraid nor hesitant in believing her love, because now he knew what she feels is an echo of what is inside his own heart. They truly and endlessly belong to each other. He takes her to bed, treats her like the queen she is for him as he dives himself into her welcoming warmth, murmuring love to her ears. Then, she falls asleep by his side and a small part of him hopes they will be blessed with another child, so Gideon can have a playmate for their travels. He would love to add lots of baby pictures to Belle's book.

But he doesn't have time to think about that right now, because he hears a little voice calling for him in the other room, so he slips of the bed and pull some clothes on before reaching for his son.

Gideon was standing in the middle of the living room looking at a shelve while waiting for him to come. The boy pointed at a frame he had found, picking it up to show his father.

"My brother," Gideon said, proudly, as if he had discovered a new planet.

Rumplestiltskin gasped, because he had looked all around the apartment but hadn't seeing this picture in particular. It was one of Baelfire with Emma, probably taken years ago, when the two of them first met. It probably would pass unnoticed for him, because Rumple only gave attention to the highest shelves, while Gideon could only reach for the lower ones, but it was good to see it, because Bae had his brightest smiles in it, which caused him to grin widely as he moved to sit on the floor with his boy.

"Aye, indeed, Gideon, this is your brother," he agreed pulling his son to his lap. "But I thought you were already asleep."

"I wanted water," Gideon explained.

And sure, he couldn't keep himself away from the shelves, because just like his mother he was a curious little thing. Rumplestiltskin thanked his boy, then tucked him back to bed and told him the story about how a poor spinner became a powerful sorcerer to save his son. Then, when the boy had already fallen asleep and the apartment was drowned in silence again, he sat on the old couch, watching for his child, knowing that in the room beside them, his wife was also dreaming peacefully and in the next day they would explore this new huge city that once were his oldest son's home.

It would be nice, Rumplestiltskin thought, like the life he always wished to have, but never got the chance. He walked to the windows, looking at the busy streets down there, just like Belle had done and he almost could feel like he wasn't standing alone in there, because it was in these indescribable moments of peace and happiness that he felt Baelfire was still right by his side, like in the endless nights they spent watching the starts in a time long enough to be considered another life.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I'm so sorry if there is anything wrong with my writing, English is not my first language.


End file.
